Volume 1 Tigers in Southeast Asia Chapter 70: Confrontation in the Sea of Fog
Lin Fei detained the Spaniards in the cargo hold. He picked up the megaphone leading to the cargo hold and said, "Zhang Chuang, ask who is the navigator among those people and bring him to me."
Zhang Chuang came in with a middle-aged fat man and told Lin Fei: "He is the navigation chief."
The fat man's legs trembled when he saw Lin Fei, and he begged, "Please let me go, don't kill me... "
Lin Fei snorted coldly and said, "If you want to live, then cooperate honestly. Otherwise, the guy whose head and penis I smash today will be you tomorrow."
The Spanish navigator said hastily, "Yes, yes, I will obey you."
Lin Fei nodded with satisfaction, and then asked: "What is the hydrological condition of the Vilanvidova waterway? How deep is the water? Are there any reefs?"
The Spanish navigator said: "The hydrological conditions of that waterway are good. The water depth is about ten meters and there are no reefs."
Lin Fei was delighted, thinking that there were no hidden reefs, so he could launch a surprise attack. Lin Fei then asked, "What about the waters after the waterway? How big is it?"
The Spanish navigator replied: "The waters behind the channel are about fifteen kilometers wide from east to west and about ten kilometers wide from north to south, about that."
After hearing this, Lin Fei was encouraged, thinking to himself that in such a large area of water, a sneak attack would be no problem at all. Even if he could not destroy all the enemy warships during the attack, he could still escape quietly.
Thinking of this, Lin Fei said to the Spanish navigator, "You are going to take us to the Vilanvidova waterway for reconnaissance tonight. Are you willing?"
"Yes, yes, of course I am willing. As long as you don't kill me, I'll do anything for you." The Spanish navigator agreed without thinking. Lin Fei began to prepare for the night reconnaissance. He decided to let the Nuwa ship go for the reconnaissance and the Pangu ship would stay in the current waters, so he let the Pangu ship drop anchor for a rest.
At six o'clock in the evening, night fell, and Lin Fei began to prepare for the night voyage. It is very dangerous for a warship to sail at night. The visibility drops sharply at night, making it impossible for the warship to observe the surrounding situation in detail, making it easy to have accidents such as running aground. Moreover, the lights of the warship will be transmitted far away, making the warship easy to be discovered. Therefore, the warship must carry out a series of preparations before the night voyage to eliminate these hidden dangers.
Lin Fei picked up the megaphone and said loudly: "I am Captain Lin Fei. I now order a blackout on the entire ship. Except for the cabins that must be illuminated, no lights are allowed in other cabins. Check the sealing of all portholes and watertight doors to prevent light from leaking out. Attention, this is not a drill! Attention, this is not a drill!"
After Lin Fei gave the order, messages came back from various locations one after another: "Report to the captain, the watchtower is ready! Report to the captain, the steam engine room is ready..."
When Lin Fei heard that all cabins were ready, he picked up the masthead megaphone and ordered, "Ma Chengfeng, add three more lookouts tonight."
Ma Chengfeng agreed loudly, and Lin Fei turned to Liu Daming and said, "Old Liu, bring the sextant and calibrate the magnetic compass according to the position of the stars to ensure the accuracy of the night chart work."
Liu Daming agreed with a smile. Under Lin Fei's command, all departments were in good order and completed the preparations for the night voyage. Lin Fei then issued the order to set sail, and the Nuwa ship cut through the waves on the sea and headed towards the Vilanvidova waterway.
The sea is peaceful under the night sky. The bright moonlight shines on the sea, and the waves reflect the moonlight. Only the sound of waves and wind echoes between heaven and earth.
The Nuwa ship sailed for half an hour, and suddenly a layer of white fog rose between the sea and the sky, as if a veil was covering the sea and the sky. Ma Chengfeng said to Lin Fei: "Report to the captain, the sea surface suddenly rose with thick fog, and the current visibility is 2000 meters."
Lin Fei's heart moved, thinking that foggy weather is very unfavorable for navigation. Ships cannot see the stars in the sky in the fog and cannot use astronomical phenomena for navigation. The warship is likely to lose its way.
Lin Fei turned around and said to the navigator Zhang Chengwu: "Improve the accuracy of nautical chart operations!"
Zhang Chengwu answered loudly: "Understood!"
Lin Fei nodded, his brows still furrowed, his heart still hanging. The most dangerous thing about sailing in the fog is a collision. There are merchant ships passing through this area. If there is a collision with a merchant ship, the consequences will be very serious. The Nuwa ship is the only warship in his hands. Once it is damaged, the future of the entire Chinese Empire will be affected!
Lin Fei picked up the megaphone leading to the mast and said loudly: "Ma Chengfeng, add two more lookouts, turn on the searchlights, search the sea surface, and make sure there is no collision."
Ma Chengfeng answered loudly: "I understand!" Ma Chengfeng then turned on the searchlight on the mast and looked at the sea in front of the Nuwa ship. At this time, the fog continued to increase and visibility quickly dropped to 1,000 meters.
Lin Fei looked at the thick fog outside the porthole and felt disappointed. He thought to himself that with this kind of visibility, we wouldn't be able to detect anything even if we entered the waterway. Forget it, let's not go. Let's return and think about the sneak attack plan for now.
Just as Lin Fei was about to pick up the megaphone and order the reconnaissance plan to be cancelled and return to the temporary anchorage, Ma Chengfeng suddenly sent a message: "A ship was found one thousand meters to the port side of our ship. The visibility is too low to see the specific situation of the ship."
Lin Fei was suspicious and thought: "What kind of ship is this? It shouldn't be a warship. According to Captain Diego's instructions, their warship will return to Tipped-de-Pom Harbor tomorrow night and shouldn't go back tonight. Could it be that the warships in Tipped-de-Pom Harbor have come out? Probably not. There's no reason for them to come out of the harbor in this kind of weather."
Lin Fei thought for a while and determined that it was a civilian ship, so he ordered: "Ignore that ship, turn around and return to the temporary anchorage."
The warship began to turn in the foggy sea. The Spanish navigator had been in the command room the whole time, standing obediently beside Lin Fei. When he heard Lin Fei's order, he hurriedly asked, "Aren't you going to scout the Vilanvidova waterway?"
Lin Fei was stunned, thinking that judging from the tone of the Spanish navigator, he seemed to want me to go to the Villanvidova Channel. Why was he so enthusiastic about this matter?
Before Lin Fei had time to think about it, he suddenly heard Ma Chengfeng say, "Captain, the mysterious ship in the fog is approaching our ship quickly, and the distance is now close to 800 meters."
Lin Fei was startled, wondering why that ship was approaching us. Lin Fei hurried to the porthole, picked up the telescope in his hand and looked in the direction of the ship. Sure enough, he saw a few bright yellow pilot lights slowly approaching his warship.
Lin Fei was puzzled. A few minutes later, Ma Chengfeng suddenly sent a message: "Captain, that ship is a warship!"
Lin Fei asked in surprise: "What did you say?"
Ma Chengfeng's voice became tense, and he said, "Yes, that ship is a warship. I saw the main gun on the warship!"
Lin Fei's mind raced: "That ship is a warship, and it's approaching us. Does it want to attack us? It shouldn't be. The Nuwa ship has covered all its main guns. It's dark now, and there's heavy fog on the sea. They shouldn't be able to recognize our identities! Then why is it approaching us? Do they think we are a civilian ship and want to rob us again?"
Lin Fei was thinking, at this time Liu Daming asked anxiously: "Old Lin, what should we do? Let's fight!"
Lin Fei waved his hand and said, "Wait a minute, they may not know that we are a warship. If we launch an attack, we may not necessarily sink the warship, but we will definitely be exposed. At that time, the Spanish fleet in the port will strengthen its defenses, and our sneak attack plan will fail."
Liu Daming asked, "How do you know they don't know we are warships? What if they know we are warships? Even if they really think we are civilian ships, won't they fire at us?"
Lin Fei thought to himself, Liu Daming is right. The Spanish Navy does have the habit of robbers. What if they really open fire after approaching us? Our Nuwa ship cannot be damaged at all!
Lin Fei was thinking when Ma Chengfeng suddenly sent a message: "Captain, the Spanish warship is only 600 meters away from us!"
Lin Fei gritted his teeth and made up his mind, thinking that even if the sneak attack plan was not planned, the Nuwa ship could not be damaged at all. Thinking of this, Lin Fei said loudly: "All gun positions are ready for battle!"
Lin Fei trained the sailors to high military quality. They immediately set out upon hearing the order. Soon, the reports of "get ready" came from all the gun positions. Lin Fei ordered loudly: "Prepare high-explosive shells, fire!"
The four naval guns fired at the same time. At this time, the sea was covered with thick fog. In the eyes of the gunners, the opposing warships were just a few bright yellow spots of light, so it was difficult to hit the target with the shells. Four high-explosive bombs were fired, and four water columns exploded on the foggy sea.
These four water columns were vague in everyone's eyes. If they didn't look carefully, it would be difficult to judge the distance based on these water columns. The gunners could only adjust the range by feeling and let the shells continue to fire far away.
The gunners fired three more waves of shells, and finally one shell exploded with a bright yellow flame in the night sky. The gunners understood that this was the shell hitting the enemy ship. If the shell fell into the water and exploded, it would not emit a bright yellow flame.
The gunners cheered, adjusted their distance and fired again. As the Nuwa ship's shells flew towards the Spanish warship, the Spanish warship did not fire back at all! Not only did they not fire back, they did not dodge, and even drove straight towards the Nuwa ship, as if they really wanted to be sunk by the Nuwa ship!
Liu Daming said to Lin Fei with a smile: "We have met a fool. Look at the Spanish warship's determination not to dodge or evade. It seems that it likes to be hit by our cannons!"
Liu Daming laughed unbridledly after he finished speaking, but Lin Fei frowned and said nothing. He knew very well that there were unexpected reasons behind everything that seemed unreasonable. So what was the reason for this Spanish warship?
